1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a service barrier for elevator equipment. More particularly, the invention relates to a service barrier consisting of an expansible structure mounted on said elevator equipment or alternatively mounted to a room containing said equipment.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
As is known, the construction of elevator installations for passengers and goods is regulated by specific standards which require that, among other things, a suitable room be provided for containing the electrical control cabinet and machinery, or power unit that powers the cage movement. The standards also specify that during maintenance of such equipment a further space should be provided for the technician to carry out the required maintenance work in safety.
The provision of a permanent maintenance safety space is in direct conflict with the requirements of customers who generally desire the elevator system to occupy the least space possible. Furthermore there has been a tendency within the industry to install all elevator equipment in the shaft rather than providing a dedicated machine room.
A number of prior art proposals have been suggested to provide a temporary safety space that is established only when maintenance is to be carried out. Such a system has been described in EP-B-0897372 wherein the equipment is contained in a room having an access door formed from three hinged leaves. The vertically hinged leaves can be unfolded and orientated at right angles to each other to create a rectangular partially enclosed space in front of the room, thereby establishing the required safety space for the maintenance technician.
In an increasing number of installations, the room containing the equipment is accessed directly from a hallway of the building. In many instances the hallway will have a floor covering (carpet, wooden flooring, marble flooring etc.). If the enclosure of EP-B-0897372 is used, degradation of the floor covering is inevitable through the repeated unfolding and folding of the hinged leaves across the covering. Furthermore, since the temporary safety space extends from the room into the hallway, there is also a high likelihood that debris and dirt from the technician's maintenance activities will also degrade the floor covering.
Additionally, it is questionable whether the leaves from the prior art are sufficiently stable since in the unfolded arrangement (creating the safety space) they are supported only at the extremities by opposing walls of the room, no fixings or supports being provided at the intermediate sections in the hallway. It is easy to envisage that any force applied to the leaves from the hallway would cause the rectangular safety space to skew, which could potentially trap and injure the technician for whom the safety space was devised.
Before working on electrical equipment the technician must ensure that he/she sufficiently grounded. This is normally achieved by a grounding strap that the technician affixes around his wrist. Naturally, this requirement hampers the technician's manual dexterity in carrying out the required work.
The object of the present invention is to avoid the inconveniences recited in the foregoing.
More particularly, the object of the present invention is to provide a service barrier for containing elevator equipment, said barrier occupying very little space in a stored position but providing sufficient space for maintenance work when in an extended position.
A further object of the invention is to provide a service barrier containing structure which accommodates all necessary equipment in a single room to achieve an easy and timesaving maintenance.